New Survey Finds that Healthcare IT Pros Most Concerned About Electronic Data Breach

Healthcare IT News recently asked its readers about the healthcare data breaches that worries them the most. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (80 percent) of respondents said electronic data breach/hack, while only 13% worried about hardware theft, followed by 7% concerned about the theft or loss of paper records. This trend is warranted. For instance, a recent article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram highlighted the growing trend of doctors using smartphones, tablets to access medical data. According to the story, hospitals in North America spent $7.4 billion on electronic records in 2010 – and the 2009 stimulus act has earmarked $50 billion to help government and private healthcare providers offer EHRs over the next five years.

If a patient of Arlington physician Ignacio Nuñez shows up at the emergency room when the doctor is not at the hospital, he doesn’t have to wait long to start investigating what might be wrong.

The obstetrician/gynecologist can call up an expectant mother’s medical records on his iPhone, or even watch the fetus’s heartbeat on the device once the woman is connected to a hospital monitor, wherever he might be at the time.

…

According to AirStrip, the San Antonio software company that developed the app Nuñez uses, there is only a three- to five-second lag to get information to the physician’s mobile device. AirStrip also makes a version for cardiologists and has an upcoming version that will monitor other critical data in intensive care units and emergency rooms.

Groundbreaking, indeed. But what about from a security perspective? We’d like to hear from you if you work for a healthcare organization is using mobile devices this way.